Jack Clark was only a Cardinal for 3 years, but those 3 years happened to coincide with the height of the Cardinals-Mets rivalry. These teams were at the top of the division year in and year out, and they all hated each other. Here are some recent Clark quotes about famed Mets players from those days (’85-’87):

“He couldn’t stand it. Whoever was talking to somebody else, he’d have to go over there to the media, and try to get in there because he wanted to be the one that the whole game was all about. Which was pretty sickening and disgusting to everybody else. … We didn’t have to see him with his white shoes on, being sad and acting like he was somebody special … He talked his way more into the Hall of Fame than actually deserving it.”
Clark talking about Gary Carter

On Howard Johnson corking his bat: “Yeah, it was. That just goes to show those guys were trying to cheat, you know, and it didn’t end up working for them anyhow. If his was corked, I’m sure a few other guys’ over there were corked, also. It didn’t make any difference to us.”

The Cardinals will have to sit and watch if they have a share of the NL Central lead at the end of the night. They have a bye, while the Brewers have a game against the Indians. The Brewers currently lead the division by half a game. The Cards play the Tigers tomorrow in what will be a repeat of the 1968 World Series that pitted Cardinals ace Bob Gibson against Tigers 30-game winner Denny McLain.Technorati Profile

The Royals might not get the chance to play the Cardinals often, but even they can figure out which weapons to avoid in the Cardinals lineup. The Royals walked Albert Pujols twice yesterday as they avoided the sweep with a 3-2 win. The 3 runs against Cards starter Joel Pineiro were an offensive explosion for the Royals, who had gone scoreless in 24 innings prior.